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EDITORIAL: Take a
look at Confucius, Ma
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who prides himself on knowledge of the Chinese
classics, must be no stranger to Confucius’ (孔子) work, whose teachings on
governance, among many other topics, emphasize the virtue and the importance of
sincerity and the disapproval of phony acts.
In view of a recent reported incident it appears that Ma, as well as his
Presidential Office officials, should revisit Confucius’ teachings and engage in
introspection on how they can better serve the people, rather than resorting to
“political performance art” as a shortcut to shape a positive public perception
of the president.
Local media reported that prior to Ma’s visit to New Taipei City’s (新北市) Nanshan
High School last month for a sit-down chat with students, staff from the
Presidential Office “rehearsed” beforehand with selected students on what
questions they were allowed to ask the president. The move led one school
teacher to post an article online titled “Does President Ma like hypocritical
politeness?” lamenting how the students –– wanting to ask questions pertaining
to current events such as employment opportunities for university graduates,
revitalization of the nation’s ailing economy and whether the two sides of the
Taiwan Strait would unify –– were instead cued to ask other designated questions
such as: “What sports does Ma play during his leisure time?” and “What were Ma’s
study habits at school?”
Dumbfounding is an understatement in describing the length to which the
Presidential Office went in its attempt to portray Ma, via media dissemination,
as a down-to-earth and approachable president.
Granted, it was indeed nice seeing the president taking the initiative to bridge
the distance between the nation’s young people and politicians by visiting
campuses and conducting chats with them. However, showing consideration for the
youngsters should be done genuinely.
If the president is sincere in conducting exchanges with students, he should
take the opportunity to lend an ear to what they have to say and be responsive
to their genuine questions and concerns. It would have been a valuable
first-hand experience for the participating students to gain an insight into the
meaning of democracy and governance if the president had shared his knowledge
with them in the exchanges.
By formatting the chat as an open forum, yet all the while restricting the
audience from asking questions of their own choice, the Presidential Office is
the one leaving the public with no choice but to arrive at the conclusion that
the president is interested only in staging shows and not genuine dialogues with
young people.
Many are reminded of a case shortly after Ma assumed the presidency in 2008 in
which the Mandarin Daily Weekender ran an illustrated article depicting Ma as a
“sunshine president” who jogs, swims, enjoys reading and had authored a wuxia
xiaoshuo (武俠小說), or martial arts fiction. As the Mandarin Daily Weekender,
published by the Mandarin Daily News, is aimed at schoolchildren, it was
lambasted by critics who accused it of sycophantic reporting aimed at shaping
the minds of the nation’s children to idolize Ma.
In light of the latest incident in which a similar kind of flattery is
resurfacing, attempting to present Ma as an idol for the young to worship, maybe
it is time that Ma revisits the Confucian teachings and refreshes his mind on
how to win over people’s hearts through actual concrete governance, rather than
opting for “political performance art” as a way to woo the public.
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